Shipwrecked
by The Second Kazekage
Summary: Neji, tenten, Ino, Choji, Shikamaru and Lee are shipwrecked and left stranded on an island. What started as a simple mission turned into so much more. Along with trying to survive, and figure out what happened. Neji has to try and figure out his feelings for Tenten. His friend for years, but now he is beginning to see her as more. But will his thoughts endanger them all? Slight OC.
1. Chapter 1

Shipwrecked

"Ok, Lee you and Ino head out and look for some supplies. Most of what we had was lost or ruined in the crash. Shikamaru, you and choji try and see if you can build us some form of shelter. We've only got a few hours of day light left and it looks as if it will rain tonight. Tenten and I will try to scavenge what we can from the wreckage." Neji tells the others.

"OK Neji! Come Ino! Lets do this!" Lee shouts, then he runs off along the beach.

"Did you really have to pair me with him?" With a sigh a disgruntled Ino trudges off after Lee.

"Ok come on Shikamaru, i'll need your help getting shelter set up." Choji jogs off to look for a suitable area for them to set up their camp.

"What a drag." Shikamaru follows after Choji, a look of carelessness drawn upon his features.

"Tenten." Neji turns to her.  
"Yes Neji?"  
"We need to get started."  
"Oh right." They walk along the beach to where some of the wreckage is. "How could this have happened?" Tenten muses aloud.  
"I'm afraid I don't know." Neji admits. After a short moment of silence between the two Neji says, "Well in any case we must try to find what we can in the wreckage." They spend a good hour scouring rigorously through the wreckage that washed up on the beach, only to find virtually nothing.

"Why don't we take a short break before we search for wreckage in the water?" Tenten proposes.

Neji stands up from the crate he was looking through. "I suppose that would be advantageous. Ok we'll take a short break."

"Good!"Tenten flops to the sand and releases a sigh of exhaustion. Neji walks to where she is and takes a seat next to her. She sits up and turns to him. "So Neji..." She begins.

"Yes?" He turns to face her, his face lacking emotion.  
"Well its just..." Her voice fades out.  
"It's just what?"  
"This mission."  
"What about it?"  
"It's taken an unexpected turn hasn't it?" She asks with a laugh.  
"That could definitly be said." A grin starts to form on his usually stoic face. An occurence that seems to happen the more he talks to his female companion.  
"I mean, this mission was relatively simple." Her voice fades out as they recall Tsunade assigning them this mission.

**4 Days Prior**

"Lasy Tsunade?" Tenten calls from outside the Hokage's door.

"Come in Tenten." Tenten enters the room to find that Neji, Lee, Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino were all already there. "Sorry I'm late."

"It's fine, I was just explaining your mission to the others." Tsuande gestures to the assembled shinobi. Tenten takes her place next to her teammates. "As I was saying. Your mission is to take a boat from the Naruto Uzumaki bridge, and proceed to the land of Rivers. Once you arrive you'll meet an associate of mine who will give you further details. Other than his orders your mission is to stealthily learn as much as you can about the happenings there."

"Why do we need to take a boat? That will take us out of our way. It'll be such a drag." Shikamaru sighs then leans his back against the wall.

"My associate lives nearer to the sea so this is a faster route. And since this mission is meant to be subtle, traveling through their land will attract unwanted attention. Going by sea you avoid most of this attention. Do you understand?"

"Yes ma'am!" Comes the unanimous call from the assembled shinobi.

Neji takes charge after a short moment, "Ok we'll depart for the bridge in one hour. Everyone meet at the gates then."

"Ok Neji! Come on! Lets get going!" Lee calls out enthusiastically, before running out at full speed.

"What a drag." Shikamaru stands up straight and saunters out of Tsunade's room, gesturing for Choji and Ino to follow him.

"Thank you Tsunade!" Tenten bows and turns to exit Neji at her side.

**Present Day**

"Well thats enough time wasted." Neji grunts as he stands, his muscles sore.

"Right!" Tenten stands up after him. She turns to look at what they'd already gone through, and what they had left. Most of the remaining wreckage was in the water so they'd have to swim and search in the water. As she turns back around to ask Neji something her voice is caught in her throat. Neji had taken his shirt off, as to prevent soaking the only clothes he had, and his finely chiseled body was open in the bright sunlight. Tenten could feel her cheeks beginning to burn at the sight. Throughout her years in Team Guy she had formed a crush on Neji and recently her feelings had increased exponentially.

"Is something wrong Tenten?" She quickly looked away, realizing she had been staring at him.

" No! Nothings wrong." She managed to get the words out while keeping herself from staring at Neji's shirtless figure.

"Ok, come on then. We need to work faster if we're to finish sorting through the wreckage today." Without another word he runs to the edge of the beach and dives into the water. Tenten remains standing on the beach thinking about Neji for a short moment until Neji calls out to her, "Tenten, aren't you going to help?"

"Oh right!" She says with a start. She pulls off her shirt, leaving just a thin undershirt on. She then joins Neji in the water and they begin to scour the wreckage to find anything of use.

After roughly an hour searching Neji surfaces and calls out, "Tenten! Over here!" He dives back under the surface as he waits for Tenten to get over to him.

"What is it Neji?" Tenten swims over to where Neji is and waits for him to resurface. As he resurfaces Tenten feels her cheeks redden. His hair is dripping wet and something about that turns her insides to mush.

"Tenten." Neji's tone is one of dead severity.

"What is it?" His tone frightens her and any thoughts in her head other than the task at hand disappeared.

"I found the captain." His voice says it all. They dive under the water to try and free him, to try to find something, anything, on his person to indicate what caused this horrid turn of events. And if they couldn't find anything, then to at least give him a proper burial. The water is crystal clear so it doesn't take too long for them to find the body. Tenten gasps and has to return to the surface after what she saw. The captains body was decimated, his arm was torn off and the his cloak is covering the spot where his shoulder once face was hidden by his cloak, which was torn and caught on a piece of the boat. The majority of his body was held down by a large piece of the ships hull, and she dreaded to see what his torso and stomach looked like, or at least what was left of them. Neji rises to the surface, "Tenten." His voice calm, and comforting, "Are you ok? we can wait for the others if you don't want to do this."

"No!" She snaps. Not wanting to seem weak in the eyes of Neji. "No! I mean, I'll be fine. I'm just tired."

"Are you sure?" Something about making her do this if she didn't want to, just didn't sit with Neji. He couldn't bring himself to make her do that. he didn't understand why. He should be making sure his teammates were strong. But something about her.

"Yes i'm sure! Come on!" Tenten dives under the water, followed soon after by a confused Neji. They move to opposite sides of the wreckage pinning the captain down. Tenten looked to Neji for confirmation on when to use her strength to move it. She was shocked by what she saw. Neji! Neji, her strong confident teammate, looked troubled by something. Before she could think on it more he nodded, the signal to start lifting. They heave and together manage to lift it off of the captain. Once they'd moved the wreckage Tenten releases her grip on it and returns to get the captain. She hauls his body to the surface then to the shore. Once they get to the shore they lay the captains body down and inspect it.

"Oh no..." Neji's voice fades out as he realizes what they're looking at.

"Is...is that what i think it is?" Tenten's voice is quiet, barely above a whisper.

"Yes." That one word said it all. Neji stands up and walks away, his head filled with troubled thoughts.

Tenten leans closer in, to confirm that it is indeed what they believe it to be. After a moment she stands and shakes her head, and mutters two words. "A puppet."


	2. Chapter 2

Shipwrecked

Tenten leans closer in, to confirm that it is indeed what they believe it to be. After a moment she stands and shakes her head, and mutters two words. "A puppet."

She turns away from the "captain" and mutters under her breath, "A puppet. How could it have been a puppet?" All the while shaking her head in disbelief. She sits down on the warm sand and tries to wrap her head around this strange devleopment. After a few moments Neji approaches her.

"This is not a good sign." He starts, "If our ship was sabotaged, then it was likely to kill us."

"Comforting thought." He gives her a few moments to digest what he's telling her.

"The only issue." He begins to speak again, "Is that we're alive." She looks up at him, comprehension beginning to form on her face. "Since we're alive, they'll be coming for us." He stands and offers her his hand, "And when that happens, we must be ready!"She accepts it and he helps her to her feet. His last words are full of a determination that she's never seen out of him. She's seen his determination and he has a lot of it, but this. This is different, she decides. Something about the way he said that, and the look on his face when he said it. There's something different about him, something good. "Tenten?" Neji asks. She realizes that she's still holding his hand. She quickly lets go and awkwardly steps back, "fixing" her hair, and dusting off her shorts.

"Sorry." She manages to awkwardly say. She feels her cheeks beginning to flush and looks away.

"It's fine." He replies, a smile on his face. Her hands are so soft,he thinks. They both stand there in silence for a few moments. Staring at the water together, daydreaming.

Neji looks out over the water and his smile fades, replaced by a look of slight confusion. Despite being trapped on this island, and the captain being a puppet, and someone coming to kill us. I'm actually enjoying this. This time alone with Tenten, its nice. A slight laugh emerges from behind his lips.

"What is it?" Tenten takes a step closer to him. Confusion clearly visible on her face.

"It's just..." His voice fades out as he looks at Tenten. The sun is slowly going down beside her and the light behind her gives her a heavenly look. More than usual, Neji thinks as a smile nearly splits his face.

What's wrong? Tenten thinks, as she begins to worry that she looks weird. She begins to look around to try and figure out whats causing Neji to be like this. Then suddenly she comes to a halt. She slowly lowers her head, as she remembers something. "AAAAAAHHH!" She leaps back trying desperartely to cover herself. Since they had to go into the water to find the captain she had taken off her outer shirt and now only had only a thin undershirt, which is now soaked and semi see through. As she leaps back she trips over a rock and falls onto the sand.

"Tenten!" Neji shouts. Not understanding why she jumped back, he runs forward to help her. A rather large crab had come up out of the sand when Tenten had screamed. This crab now sits in the way of Neji. Distracted by Tenten's sudden yell he doesn't see it and as he runs to help her it trips him up. "Gah!" He cries as he falls forward, he barly clears the rock that she tripped over and lands on her. Not in a way too painful for either of them. She shrieks again, still desperately trying to cover herself. She tries to roll away, but only manages to switch their positions.

Neji lets out a hearty laugh as Tenten gives a resignational sigh and lets herself fall onto his chest, closing her eyes. Not realizing that shes lying on a shirtless Neji. At the sound of his laughter she opens her eyes and looks to the sound. Now their faces are mere inches apart. As realization dawns on Tenten her face reddens. "Sorry!" She mumbles as she tries to get up. She stumbles in her haste and falls back onto him. She closes her eyes and tries to wish this all away. There goes my chance, she thinks, I've embarrassed myself too much.

"What's wrong Tenten?" Neji asks jokingly. "Am I that ugly?" Another fit of laughter comes upon Neji with that last statement.

"N-no!" Tenten stutters. She tries to rise again, slower this time. But Neji grabs her hands and pulls her back down again. What is he doing? Is he enjoying my misery? She closes her eyes and tries to wish this all away, tries to just go back to before this happened. Before they were assigned this mission. She remembers clearly when she first got word of this mission, she was training with Zakku when Shikamaru arrived and told her Tsunade needed to see her in an hour. She soon gets lost in her own thoughts.

"Hey Tenten." She snaps back to the real world as Neji says her name.

She looks down at him, "Ye-" Her response is cut short as Neji kisses her. WHAT?! I-IS NEJI KISSING ME? Her inner voice shrieks, the confusion and suddeness of this makes her forget to kiss back.

Neji breaks away and looks her in the eyes, the smile on his face fading as he realizes that she didn't kiss back. Should I not have done that? Did i make a mistake? His usual stoic face returns as he realizes that he may have messed up. "Sorry." He looks away and tries to stand. He can't since she's on top of him. He refuses to look her in the eyes now, he does everything to avoid looking at her. And seeing her face, knowing that he shouldn't have done that.

"Neji..." Her voice barely above a whisper. He slowly turns his head to her, his eyes still closed. He gradually opens them after a moment of silence. They're open for only a second before she kisses him. He kisses her back, his fears fading away as he does so.

"Tenten." He says with a shocked bot joyful expression on his face after they break away. She shushes him as she lies down on his chest again, this time happily.

They lie there, together, for a while. Neither of them caring about the time, just happily lying there on the beach with one another. As they begin to doze off they are snapped awake by a voice, "Neji! Tenten! Where are you?"

"Lee." Neji says to Tenten as he recognizes the voice. "Come on we need to get up." His usual stoicism returning. She begins to rise but stops suddenly as she hears another voice.

"Well lookie here!" Ino steps into their view, "What've we got here?"

"It's not wha-" Neji's explanations is cut off by Ino.

"Good choice Neji." He looks to Tenten as Ino says that. "She's a keeper."

Neji looks to Ino then back to Tenten. Finally, he says "She sure is." They stand and are about to go meet.

"Umm. What's this?" Choji calls out as he finds the captains "body."

"We better go explain." Neji says with a smile at Tenten. He takes her hand in his as they go to where Choji is. I could get used to this, is all Tenten thinks as she walks with Neji. Her Neji.


	3. Chapter 3

Shipwrecked

"We better go explain." Neji says with a smile at Tenten. He takes her hand in his as they go to where Choji is. I could get used to this, is all Tenten thinks as she walks with Neji. Her Neji.

Before Choji sights them Neji lets go of Tenten's hand and steps away so they aren't so close. She looks at him and her face clearly asking "why?" He gives her a reassuring smile, "We've already got enough news with," he gestures towards the captain, "That. We don't want to overwhelm them." His words make her feel better and she nods her head in agreement. The captain being a puppet, she thought, that's already enough news. Then you add the fact that most likely someones coming to kill them. Yeah, that's more than enough. She looks at Neji, we'll keep _us_ a secret for now.

A slight chuckle emerges from Tenten as she realizes what she just thought. Neji and I.  
I doubted that this day would come, anytime soon at least. But here it is. Maybe being shipwrecked isn't such a bad thing at all.

She soon gets lost in her own thoughts. Plans of what Neji and her will do when they return to Konoha. _If_ they return, she realizes with a start. They've still got to deal with whoever is behind this whole fiasco. With Sasori dead it can't be the Akatsuki, she reasons, he was the Akatsuki's only puppet master. Their weren't any other puppet masters with them when they attacked so he must've been their only one. It must be somebody else. Unless... she pauses, not wanting to even think about this possibility. Unless, she continues. Unless they've found a replacement...No! That's crazy. Sure they couldn't find his body during the Akatsuki's last attack. But that doesn't mean he's joined them! He couldn't! She knows him too well, they all do. He would never turn against the leaf! Especially not while Heirii still calls it home. He loves her, everyone knows that. Especially her! He just hasn't managed to tell her yet! No! She decides, It must be someone else! He loves Heirii and the leaf too much to do something like this! What was I thinking? She remembers what he told her. What he told her right before that attack.

"Tenten." He looks at her, his light blue eyes showing a determination that rivals that of Naruto when he talks about rescuing Sasuke. "Can you promise me something?" The tone in his voice is nearly begging. Whatever he needs to ask her is very important she realizes.

"What is it?" Her tone is more sincere, but also confused. Few things rile him up like this she thinks. Whatever this is, it must be very very important.

"I need you to promise me..." His voice fades to just barely a whisper, "I need you to promise me that no matter what happens, that you will protect Heirii if the Akatsuki attack again."

"She doesn't need my help, she's the best kunoichi in our year."

"I know that, but still. This isn't the chuunin exams. These people want us dead."

"I know."

"Do you!" He snaps. "Look Tenten. I love her, you know that. She means the world to me, and if she dies...if she dies I don't know what I'll do..." A sigh escapes his lips and he looks down.

"Don't worry." She puts her hand on his shoulder, "I won't let that happen. No one will get past me!" SHe gives him a confident grin, bolstering his spirits.

"Thank y-"

She cuts him off, "But in exchange you have to promise me something."

"Anything!"

"After they attack, you have to tell her how you feel."

He looks away. After a moment he speaks again, his former determination replaced by something else entirely. Fear. Not fear of death, but fear of her not feeling the same, "But...but what if she-"

"What if she what? Doesn't feel the same?" She looks at him and he gives a small nod, all the while avoiding eye contact. "HA!" Tenten breaks into laughter, "Trust me, she feels the same."

Now he looks back to her. "She does?" Disbelief in his voice.

"Of course she does! It's obvious!"

He wipes away the tears that had begun to form at the edge of his eyes, "Thanks Tenten." He barely manages to get those final words out before he gets all choked up. With tears rimming his eyes he takes Tenten into a hug, "Thank you so much."

"Of course Toreb. Anything for a friend."

"Hey!" A voice snaps at them. They turn to see Kiba riding Akamaru, "The Akatsuki are here." Thats all he says before riding off to alert the others. They look at each other, nod and then dash off towards the gate. Despite the circumstance Tenten has a smile on her face. Knowing that he will finally tell Heirii how he feels.

And...now he never will, she thinks with a sigh, he must've died during that last attack. It's the only thing that could've happened...He will always be remembered though! He led that daring charge against the Akatsuki, he is the reason that they managed to repel them. Not defeat, that's still a long ways away. But now without him that's going to be a lot harder. Without Toreb...

"Tenten!" Neji's voice snaps her from her thoughts. She looks up to see everyone waiting for her. Oops, she thinks, I must've stop walking as I thought about that. But now to the matter at hand! She jogs forward to the others, just in time to hear Neji say,"...And then we brought the captain up onto the beach, and found out that he was, well you know."

"So the captains a puppet," Shikamaru begins, "Do we have any idea who's behind this?"

Tenten looks down at his statement, having just been thinking about this. Choji notices her. "What is it Tenten?" The others turn to her. "Do you have an idea?" Innocence in his voice, not knowing what she had just been thinking.

"Well it's just..." She pauses to compose herself, tears beginning to rim her eyes. Just like Toreb before _that _fight, she thinks. She takes a deep breath to steady herself. "Ok. So this is something I realized..." She explains her fears to them, that maybe, just maybe he might've joined the Akatsuki.

"No, come on Tenten." Lee flashes his signature grin, "He would never do that. It's like you said, Heirii means too much to him."

The others chime in with "Yeah" and "He wouldn't." Soon Tenten is beginning to feel better. Glad that the others agree with her, glad that it couldn't be him.

Only Neji didn't join in. He'd seen Toreb during the fight, something seemed off. Near the end he just stopped. He turned around and just stared at some trees with a horrified expression plastered on his generally lighthearted face. Something didn't add up there. Neji didn't see what happened to Toreb after that as he had to rejoin the fray, but whatever happened couldn't be good. It's been a few weeks, he must be dead. Neji thinks, trying to add some sense of reason to his thoughts. But there was a nagging sense of dread, especially after what Tenten had said. "Look guys." Neji says, "Something was off about Toreb during that fight. He didn't seem himself, especially near the end." He pauses to let his words sink in. He takes a breath to continue speaking when he is cut off by clapping. They all look to one another, to find that it's none of them. The clapping stops and is replaced by a voice.

"Very astute observation. Neji."


	4. Chapter 4

Shipwrecked

"Very astute observation. Neji."

The gathered shinobi jump at the sudden voice.

"I must say, it took you long enough to figure it out. I expected more from you." The group turns around to see three figures standing near the forest. They all have garbs covering their faces, making distinguishing any facial features impossible. After looking at the faces of the three and failing to discover anything they looked to the robes they were wearing. They all gasp at what they see. They're all wearing...AKATSUKI ROBES!

"Th-Three Akatsuki!" Lee bursts out, the grin from moments ago completely gone from his face. Replaced by a look of both fear and confusion.

"Oh." The voice says, feigning suprise, "I see you've noticed my associates and I's clothing." The figure in the center looks at his companion on his left, then to the one on his right. "Shall we get started?" He directs this question at his companions. There! The one in the middle is the one who recognized Neji they realize. He's the one speaking, and probably the leader. Whilst they come to this conclusion the middle akatsuki members throws his hands in the air. The suddeness of this motion distracts them and they follow his hands. Trying to see what sort of attack he would throw at them. Then, faster than the distarcted ninja could've anticipated his companions charge forward. Caught momentarily offguard by the suddeness of this attack, they leapt to the sides. Separating themselves from one another. As they do this the Akatsuki members split as well. On one side there is Choji, Lee, and Ino against an Akatsuki member who grabs a large sword from a sheath on his back. He is a well built man and wields his sword with ease, even only using one sword is an exact replica of the blade wielded by the Infamous Swordsman of the Mist, Zabuza. Though none of the gathered ninja had faced Zabuza, so they didn't recognize the blade they were looking at.

On the other side Neji, Tenten, and Shikamaru face off against an Akatsuki member that to this point appears unarmed. They stare at him trying to predict when he would attack.  
"Aw. You didn't fall for my little trick." The man in the middle says, voice oozing with sarcasm, "Though I wouldn't expect any less from the great shinobi of the Leaf." He spits this last word as if disgusted by the very mention of the Leaf village.

"What do you want with us?" Ino demands.

"What do I want?"

"Did I stutter!"

"Calm down Ino!" Lee grabs her shoulder, "We must be careful."

"Yes! Listen to ol' Bushy Brows."

"How-" Lee's question is cut off by a sudden lunge from the swordsman. The swordsman dashes forward with inhuman speed. He swings his sword in a wide arc, forcing them to back up. As they jump back out of range of the sword a barrage of senbon fly toward them from the Akatsuki member facing off against Neji, Tenten, and Shikamaru.

"Look out!" Choji throws shuriken to intercept the senbon. As he does so he is left momentarily open and the swordsman stabs at him. Choji turns as he throws his shuriken and the blade wizzes past his side, mere centimeters off. Lee uses this to charge and initiate offense of his own. He throws a devastating roundhouse kick towards the Akatsuki's head. Knowing that no one could block it in time he allows a slight grin to come to his face.

CLANG!

Lee's foot is deflected by the flat of the blade. Lee's grin disapears and is replaced by a look of utter shock. He was deflected and not blocked so he is thrown off balance and his body lurches towards the right, towards that deadly blade. As his body comes down towards the blade he realizes that even he can't move out of the way in time. Realizes that he is going to be hitm and judging by the size of that sword it could be fatal. He accepts this; grits his teeth in determination and decides that even if he goes down, that he will take this bastard with him. He clenches his fist, planning to use his body's momentum from falling to deliver a destructive blow to the man's torso. He grits his teeth and closes his eyes mere seconds before impact.

Nothing.

Nothing happened, no cut from that deadly blade. He openes his eyes to find his face inches away from his opponents. He looks down to see that the blade stopped right before it gut him like a fish. Only centimeters away from his body, away from death. Lee tries to jump back and get away before he is killed. As he tries to move he realizes he can't. Suddenly he looks down and this time the blade is touching him. But barely! He was only slightly nicked, nothing enough to prove fatal, or even injure him. So why can't I move? His inner voice asks, fear creeping into it.

All the while was this is happening Neji and his comrades are facing off against an equally skilled opponent. Equally skilled but very different. Whilst Lee's opponent is a full grown, massive sword wielding shinobi. Neji, Tenten, and Shikamaru's opponent is smaller. Quite so. Their opponent is the same size that they were years ago. When they were still gennin. Smaller but just as deadly.

"Aw. You didn't fall for my little trick." The man in the middle says, voice oozing with sarcasm, "Though I wouldn't expect any less from the great shinobi of the Leaf." He spits this last word as if disgusted by the very mention of the Leaf village.

As soon as the words leave this man's mouth their opponent charges. He charges straight at them in a headfirst frontal assault. They turn their attention to the matter at hand.

"BYAKUGAN!" Neji's kekkai genkai is triggered. His jaw drops in shock at what he sees. He opens his mouth to warn the others but before he can he has to leap away to avoid senbon flying at him. As he does so his eyes leave his opponent for a moment to check Lee's opponent to see if it's the same thing. "H-how?" he mutters as he confirms that it is indeed the same. He turns back to his foe to find Tenten and Shikamaru surrounded by ice. He doesn't have to time to try and figure what's going on here because as he turns and sees them his foe charges at him. Neji readies himself and takes a breath to calm himself, confident he can hold his own. As his foe draws closer he leans back into his stance for his signature 8 Triagrams attack. Ha, he thinks as his foe enters his range. "8 Triagrams-" He suddenly stops as his oppenent stops charging in a fraction of a second and jumps to the side, back out of his range. "What's going on here? No human could possibly move that fast!"

"Really?" The man in the middle asks mockery in his tone.

"What trickery is this? Your associates have virtually no chakra flow, they should be dead!"

"That's right." As he says this the ice around Tenten and Shikamaru disperses, and both of his associates leap backwards to their leaders side.

"Gah!" Lee falls to the ground clutching his stomach.

"Dead. That's what they are. As your friends here will soon be." He gestures to Tenten and Shikamaru. They're both on the ground, with a assortment of cuts decorating their limbs. Neji rushes to Tenten's side and tries to help her up. She can't stand on her own and he has to let her lean on him. "Poison is such a wondeful thing." He takes out a small vile of a strange maroon liquid and examines it. "And as for them being dead. Well," As he says this last word both of his associates remove their masks.

"What?" Comes the unanimous cry from those not afficlted by the posion. They haven't seen them in person but had all been educated on the Seven swordsmen of the mist. And in front of them Stands, Zabuza Momochi. The other must be Haku, Neji thinks.

"You see." The man in the middle slowly removes his mask as well. "Lord Sasori learned a lot. And left most of it in his notes. Along with these. Human puppets, of the Infamous Zabuza and Haku." His mask is off now and the assembled shinobi's jaws drop in unison.

"Toreb..." Tenten manages that single word before she fades into unconsciousness.


	5. Chapter 5

Shipwrecked

"You see." The man in the middle slowly removes his mask as well. "Lord Sasori learned a lot. And left most of it in his notes. Along with these. Human puppets, of the Infamous Zabuza and Haku." His mask is off now and the assembled shinobi's jaws drop in unison.

"Toreb..." Tenten manages that single word before she fades into unconsciousness.

The man, now revealed to be Toreb chuckles. "That's right Tenten. It's me." He laughs and tosses the vial of poison into the air. Catching it in the other hand. So causually as if he doesn't care.

"What the hell happened to you?!" Neji slowly lays Tenten down then leaps to his feet. "We thought you were dead!"

"Oh i know what you thought." He slowly puts his vial of poison back into an inner pocket of his cloak. Near his heart, as if it's precious to him. "I know what you imbeciles thought. You thought! That I was finally dead. That you had finally got poor pitiful Toreb out of your hair. You were relieved. You were glad. You were happy." His voice is rising with each accusation. "Especially you Neji! Thats right. I know how much you despised me. How much you would've loved for me to just drop off the face of this world. For me to die and never be seen again." He laughs, a maniacle sound. "And you almost had your wish too. Such a shame i'm not dead."

"What happened to you?" Neji demands, fear and worry for his lost friend beginning to seep into his words.

A slight chuckle emerges from Toreb as he decides to grant his old comrades one final wish. Before he kills them and drains their bodies, to add them to his collection. "Fine." He sits down and yawns, complacent in his certainty that he will have no issue in killing them, one by one. "So what happened to the young, stupid Toreb Kutsuya? Your old friend, ally, dare I say brother? Very simple really. The Akatsuki saved me, they opened my eyes to the evil of your beloved Konoha."

"What are you talking about?" Ino cries out, barely restraining herself from charging at him and slapping the ignorance out of her old friend.

"Patience Ino, all in due time. But firstly..." He flicks his wrist and the puppet of Zabuza lunges at her and hauls his mighty sword to rest it against her throat, mere centimeters from slitting it. As she breaths she can feel the cold metal dauntingly close to killing her. One false move and her life will come to a close. She tries to call out in fear but no sound escapes her throat, she is horrified that Toreb, her old friend could be doing this. He was always bringing joy to them, always cracking jokes and trying to make everyone feel better. She loses herself for a few seconds in good memories of Toreb and everyone before they lost him in the attack. "Where is that traitorous swine Zakku!" The harshness in which he describes his best friend snaps her from her nostalgia.

"Traitorous swine?" She manages to get the words out despite the paralyzing fear she feels. But that doesn't make sense, they were best friends. They were inseperable, the closest of friends. Anytime Toreb was seen Zakku was right by his side, cracking that familiar grin. What could have happened? For Toreb to feel this hatred towards Zakku something unthinkable must have occured. Only one thing could come to her mind that could ever make Toreb hate Zakku as much as the rage in Toreb's words made it appear. And that thing would've been Zakku killing Heirii, something he could never do even if he wanted to. While Toreb loved Heirii so did Zakku, Zakku loves her like a sister. The little sister he never had, that's what he always tells her.

"Answer me!" Toreb bellows, urgency betraying his calm facade. Ino tries to reply but is cut off.

"Zakku's not here!" Choji yells at Toreb. "This was our mission, not his. He's still in Konoha!"

"Nice try Choji." He retracts Zabuza and Ino crumples to the ground, gasping for breath. She'd been holding her breath in subconscious fear. Now it came to her in ragged gasps. "I know he's with you. An aquaintance of mine guaranteed that."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Neji starts to slowly approach Toreb. Anger plastered upon his genrally stoic and calculated features.

Before Neji can move within any range at which he could launch an offensive against Toreb, The puppets of Zabuza and Haku are flying towards him. A slight grin, not visible to Toreb, appears on Neji's face as the puppets grab his arms and restrain him. "What am I talking about?" Toreb stands and walks slowly towards Neji, stopping when there are mere feet between them. "When the Akatsuki attacked Konoha they didn't kill me. They saved me. As I was fighting Itachi Uchiha I had him on his knees and one strike from death, from ending his miserable existence. I looked into his eyes and saw fear. The infamous Itachi Uchiha had fear in his eyes. As I sent my puppets in for the kill I heard a scream. One so filled with pain, horror, and surprise. But even more than that, I knew the voice. Oh how could I forget the voice. It was my beloved Heirii." He steps closer to Neji, there faces mere inches apart, and as he continued to speak his words were filled with hatred, anger, but most of all pain. "I turned to see what had happened, caring not for Itachi if she died. For if she died Itachi was secondary, the only thing important was saving her and killing whoever hurt her. I expected to see an Akatsuki member, but what I saw was much much worse. Zakku. Standing over her lifeless body. Grinning, pleased with himself. He casually removed his sword from her heart and turned to me. And laughed. He butchered the woman whom I loved, in cold blood, and laughed. I froze. Paralyzed. He began to stroll almost casually to me, as if he'd been waiting for me so we could get ramen. Before he could get close to me I ran. I ran into the Forest of Death, and then I ran some more. I ran myself into the ground, I ran until I couldn't move any further. Then I collapsed, crumpled to the ground in exhaustion. Tears streaming down my face and sweat coating my body. I fell asleep as soon as my head touched the ground." Toreb once again removes that vial of poison from an inner pocket of his cloak and stares at it reverently. "And that Neji. Is what the hell I'm talking about."


End file.
